Dine out, help out

• Morton's in Uptown does Philanthropy Week: Buy a three-course fixed-price dinner Oct. 6-10 for $75 and $25 of the dinner price and 10 percent of bottled wine purchases will go to the charity of the evening. Here's the lineup: Oct. 6: Classroom Central; Oct. 7: RAIN; Oct. 8: Second Harvest Food Bank; Oct. 9: USO of North Carolina; Oct. 10: Levine Children's Hospital. Reservations: 704-333-2602; 227 W. Trade St.
  

• Wolfgang Puck Carolina Bistro begins school support Oct. 1 and runs through November: 20 percent of all sales to diners who mention "School Promo" go to the restaurant's three neighborhood schools: Providence Spring Elementary, Jay M. Robinson Middle School and Providence High. 5349 Ballantyne Commons Parkway; 704-708-5802.
  

• Sole and Zen team with Levine Children's Hospital for "5 Days of Hope" Oct. 5-9. Five percent of the Dilworth restaurants' sales during those days will go to the hospital, in conjunction with the Hopebuilders 5K Run/Walk Oct. 10. Sole: 1608 East Blvd.; 704-343-9890. Zen: 1716 Kenilworth Ave.; 704-358-9688.

Slow down; sign up

Climb on the farm-to-fork train Oct. 3 at the Bed and Bike Inn in Gold Hill (about an hour east of Charlotte). Chefs Kyle Krieger (Noble's), Jamie Lynch (Barrington's), Sean Dowling (131 Main), Sam Jett (Blue), Zack Renner (Harvest Moon Grill) and pastry chef Ashley Boyd (300 East) will offer courses celebrating community -- and benefitting Friendship Trays and Slow Food Charlotte.

Organizers want to stress the importance of sustainable farming, local businesses and charitable giving, and ingredients (so far, according to Fisher Farms) will include rabbit from Full Circle Farm, pork from Grateful Growers, eggs from Laughing Owl and Yesterways farms, tomatoes from Fisher Farms, eggplant from Fisher or Carlea or Laughing Owl, mushrooms from Landis Gourmet Mushrooms and/or Clover Organic Mushroom Farm, apples from Nise's, goat cheese from Bosky Acres, assorted greens from Nise's and Poplin Farms and more.

Rain delayed this dinner from Sept. 26, so the hope is for clear weather, and there should be a full moon that night. Other fun details include a contest for best wine glass (the dinner is bring-your-own-glass), live music from Pfeiffer University, a silent auction of local services, art and gift certificates. Cost is $75 and you must reserve through e-mail to fisherfarms1933@gmail.com.

Friendship Trays delivers meals to elderly, handicapped and convalescing people. Slow Food is a nonprofit group founded to "counteract fast food and fast life."

Elizabeth Avenue casualty

NoFo on Liz closed yesterday, a Raleigh manager confirmed; the cafe/store's siblings in Raleigh and Wilmington remain open. Ironic, since the city today celebrated the reopening of Elizabeth Avenue after the lengthy construction process (with blocked access) that NoFo folks indicate they "just couldn't get through."

Deals, deals

• French country breakfast for about $5 sound good? During October, from 7-9 a.m. weekdays, Cafe Monte offers two eggs any style, sausage and bacon (yes, "and"), potatoes and toast for half-off the regular price of $9.95, plus a free cup of coffee. 6700 Fairview Road; 704-552-1116.

• McCormick & Schmick’s is offering “10 under $10” at lunch. Both Charlotte locations (200 S. Tryon St. and at SouthPark) will offer sandwiches, wraps, pastas, entree salads and some combos, and those in a rush can request a 45-minute-or-less service time. The offer is good daily, except for holidays.

• Revolution Pizza & Ale House now offers a lunch buffet noon-2 p.m. Tuesday-Friday: all you can eat pizza and salad for $7.50 (plus tax) and kids 10 and younger eat for free. Both the usual (pepperoni, sausage, cheese) and the chef-inspired (pulled pork, peppadew peppers, caramelized onions) ingredients will be on the buffet. 3228 N. Davidson St.; 704-333-4440.

• Las Ramblas does its second Fiesta Las Ramblas 4 to 8 p.m. Oct. 22, with half-price menu items, $4 wines, $3 sangria and $2 beers. Details at www.lasramblascafe.com. 2400 Park Road; 704-335-8444.

Special dinners

• Longitude 81 hosts its second annual All You Can Eat Low Country Seafood Boil from 5-10 p.m. Oct. 3 for $23.95 (kids younger than 10 eat for $11.95). Crab, shrimp, andouille, clams, oysters, corn and potatoes go into the boil, while there'll also be blackened beef tenderloin, ribs and chicken, plus salads and desserts and live music. 971 Gold Hill Road, Fort Mill; Reservations: 803-802-9981.

• Blue does Oktoberfest with a five-dish beer-and-food pairing Oct. 8 for $34.95. Among the offerings: Jackman's Beer soup with Bellavitano cheese and sweet onions, with Jackman's Pale Ale; seared scallops over chickpea fritters and Sawtooth Ale; and oven-roasted Kurobuta pork loin with Oktoberfest. Reservations required: 704-927-2583; in the Hearst Tower at the corner of College and 5th streets.

• Mimosa Grill hosts a pre-Oktoberfest dinner Oct. 9 with brewer Mike Cothran and his New Belgium Brewing Company liquids. Included in the menu are Goat Lady hush puppies with Fat Tire; "deconstructed" split pea soup with Mothership Wit; slow-cooked pork cheeks and diver scallops with Hoptober; and more. Cost is $45; 704-343-0700. 327 S. Tryon St.

Flavor tripping

Overheard at the Crepe Cellar's flavor-tripping party Sunday night in NoDa: "It's like high-def TV for your mouth."

In case you missed the turn-on, tune-in, drop-out event: At the door, trippers each got one tablet made with the West African berry Synsepalum dulcificum. They were then guided to sample from the buffet and perhaps order a drink -- to get a tasting baseline -- then to let the tablet dissolve in their mouths for four to seven minutes.

The tablet recalibrates tastebuds, rendering nearly everything (at least in my case) sweet: A shot glass of lemon juice was like drinking a melted lemon Italian ice, times 10; a lime wedge became wet candy; wine turned to, well, Mad Dog or maybe Annie Green Springs. (As owner Jeff Tonidandel put it in an e-mail: "Maybe you can save some money if a $2 pill can make a $2 wine tolerable.") Sort of like being 15 again, tastebud-wise. Hot peppers turned sweet, but a shot of Tabasco burnt like blazes going down, just as it would normally. (I should have sipped it, not shot it, since the taste difference is all in the mouth. I'm almost recovered now, thanks for asking.)

Brie in pastry tasted like -- more buttery Brie in sweeter pastry. Sweet potato chips with Gorgonzola sauce were only slightly sweeter and more mellow. Cheeses were definitely the oddest morph -- not really sweet, but not exactly more subtle, just ... weird. Perhaps the best thing about the night was patrons' adventurousness: We talked to folks just there for kicks, and one man who said his Type 2 diabetes might be easier to live with if he could "indulge" his sweet tooth with this sort of experience occasionally. (I'm told researchers are examining the possibilities.) All in all, a funky success.

Tonidandel said the citrus fruits and the special beverages -- grapefruit margaritas and sea breezes and more, made without simple syrup -- were the biggest hits. If the Cellar does it again, check it out.

Free cookie

Mrs. Fields (not her, left) celebrates National Cookie Month by giving away a free chocolate chip cookie to each customer from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. Oct. 1. All three N.C. locations -- at the Charlotte airport and in Raleigh and Durham -- are participating.